230572 Early American and European Film (S) (SoSe 2008)

This is an introduction to the early days of motion pictures. It will trace the path of early visual motion theatre from the puppet shows of Japan and Indonesia, through the experimental "Zoetrope", "Praxinoscope" and "Magic Lantern" shows which presented movement in a primitive way. We will also see the original "Sequential Photography" of Eadweard Muybridge (1830-1904), the very earliest studies of photographed movement. Then through Louis Augustin Aimé le Prince (1841-1890), a Frenchman who built his cameras in Connecticut, USA, but shot the very first moving pictures in Leeds, England. We will also see the works of some of the other seminal pioneers, Porter, Dickson, Skladanowski, Friese-Green, Melies, and the Lumiere brothers. Probably we will finish by showing and discussing the movie considered to the the very first story film, The Great Train Robbery, by Edwin S. Porter.

This seminar will be a demonstration and discussion of the very beginnings of motion pictures, and by reference, television and internet streaming video. It all started here.